Jewish Edinburgh and Scotland

Glasgow and Edinburgh are the two Scottish cities with sizeable Jewish communities. The only other progressive Jewish Community is Glasgow Reform Synagogue (Or Hadash). Edinburgh has a much smaller Jewish community than Glasgow, but this is boosted by many Jewish students and Jews who come to live here and enjoy our splendid city.

Organisations

The Scottish Council of Jewish Communities (ScoJec) is the representative body of all the Jewish communities in Scotland. it represents the Jewish community in Scotland to government and the Scottish Parliament. See http://www.scojec.org for more details or obtain more information from Catherine Lyons, our ScoJec representative.

The Edinburgh Jewish Literary Society (commonly known as "the Lit" ) holds meetings of Jewish interest on Sunday evenings during the winter months and meets in the community hall of the orthodox synagogue in Salisbury Road. Membership is open to all and some of our members are past presidents of the society. See http://www.ejls.org for details. Meetings are publicised in our newsletter.

The Association of Jewish Refugees provides social and welfare services, and grants financial assistance to Jewish victims of Nazi persecution living in Great Britain. It now extends its membership to second third generations of survivors and refugees. This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.is the contact person for the local organisation.

Jewish Care Scotland provides social care services for the Jewish Community in Scotland. Their professional social work team visits people in their own homes to discuss with them their needs or any social work service they may require. Although they are Glasgow based they extend their services to Jews living anywhere in Scotland and have been provided valuable help to some Sukkat Shalom members. See http://www.jcarescot.org.uk for details or contact them on 0141 620 1800.

Jewish book club meets monthly in members’ homes to discuss books of Jewish interest. Contact This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. if interested.

Food

Edinburgh no longer has either a kosher butcher or baker.

However

Waitrose in Morningside stocks Challah on a Friday and Sweet & Sour bread from London, plus a small supply of kosher dry goods.

Kingsmill bread and other bread products are kosher and carry the "SKA" mark (Sephardic Kashrut Authority).

Allinson's loaves and other bread products are also kosher. These include the new flavoured breads - Wholemeal & Honey, Olive & Rosemary.

Sainsbury’s supermarket at Cameron Toll has a selection of kosher products an the World Foods aisle and carries kosher supplies for Pesach a few weeks before, though the supply can be irregular. Kosher Grape Juice (white and red) is available in this section on the bottom shelf.

They also stock kosher wine in their wine section - both Palwin No. 10 and Kedem wines are available. They also stock Sabra Hummous (variant spelling) with pine nuts which have a "K" mark and may be found in the chiller cabinets where the spreads are. This sometimes gets moved around in Sainsbury's so you may have to hunt for it - it is often in one of the small stands at the back of the store near the deli counter.

There is a small stock of kosher products in the deli section at IKEA at Straiton.

Most Tesco supermarkets stock Mrs Elswood's Haimisha Cucumbers and Dill Pickles which are Kosher and carry a London Beit Din (LBD) "K" symbol. These are to be found in the regular pickles section of the store. Similarly the butter from Denmark, Lurpak, is also kosher and carries a Beit Din "K" mark and is to be found in the dairy products section. Lurpak butter products may be found in most supermarkets.